Shards of Sin GM Resources

Shards of Sin is part 2 of 6 of the Shattered Star Adventure Path; that book is necessary
to run the adventure but Pathfinder Fate Accelerated write ups are provided for
the various opponents and challenges faced therein. Use the linked
to documents as relevant to the published adventure.

Part 3: In The Crow's Nest

Once the adventurer's have encountered Natalya and acquired the Shard of Pride they
technically have begun part 3 of the adventure, but nothing of consequence happens
until they arrive at the Tower of the Crow, the outermost Irespan column. Though
it once supported the massive bridge, the section that covered this pylon is long
gone. It juts out of the water about half an hour of hard rowing away from the docks
of Magnimar.

Lady Sheila can provide a boat if necessary, but acquiring or renting a suitable
rowboat or equivalent in either Dockway or Beacon's Point should not be a problem
for a band of adventurers.

B8: Upper Entrance

Good At:Not Being Detected; difficulty to notice with a deliberate search is Legendary (+8)

Bad At:If someone notices the hooked pole on the platform down below (a Good (+3) difficulty), the difficulty drops to Great (+4) to spot the eyelet in the trapdoor and deduce its use.

If the adventurers get stuck on finding this door they wont get any further. If this happens, rather than bog the game down in an un-FAE like exercise in stymying the players, consider having one or two more Tower Girls exit from above on their way to the docks. If the Tower Girls have not yet been alerted to the adventurers' presence they can even get the jump on the hapless Tower Girls. Alternately you could offer 'succeed at a cost'.

B9: Shaft Apex

If, for some reason, one of the adventurers want's to take a swan dive off the tower
into the waters below, the difficulty is Fantastic (+6) for a character using Focused,
or Legendary (+8) for a character using Roguish or Combatives.

Tellavee has a toxic personality and a poor reputation even among other Sczarni lowlifes. She will betray her supposed comrades if it comes to it, but the adventurers should beware as her nature would drive her to try to betray them as well. The parable of the scorpion and the frog comes to mind.

Tend to operate in packs of two (2), but they fight as individuals.

Third Floor

B15: Marshaling Room

By default nothing happens in this room, but if the alarm has been raised and Tower
Girls have managed to flee before the adventurers, a big encounter with the surviving
Tower Girls from below and the Tower Girls living on this level occurs in this room.

B16: Common Hall

The three Tower Girls in this room are good friends and fight together, trying to
retreat further into the Crow.

Good At:Being Obscure; difficulty for a Clever character to recognize Alaznist is Superb (+5), but if an Epic (+7) result or better is acheived they also recognize Alaznist's predecessor, the very rarely depicted Thybidos

If an adventurer makes a faithful representation of the fresco, they can later sell it to historians or turn it over to the Pathfinder Society for a reward. The difficulty to document the find well enough while being Carefully Focused is Superb (+5).

B20: Dormitory

Three more Tower Girls and two more donkey rats reside in here. If undue noise is
made, Karisa and her pets (from the Pack Mistress's Room) will join the fight as
well.

Up to three (3) may form a mob. Add two (2) hit boxes per rat. +1 to attack and defend for each additional rat remaining.

Second Floor

B23: Ayala's Quarters

The wererat leader of the Tower Girls makes this suite her home along with a couple
of donkey rat pets. There's another illusory walled window to detect in here, and
finally another secret door. The encounter in this room is basically a mini-boss
fight.

B22: The Siccatite Doors

Good At:Burning Things That Touch Me (+4), Being A Conundrum; difficulty for a Cleverly Focused character to figure out the solution to the puzzle is Fantastic (+6).

Puzzle traps are the sort of things that can just grind a game session to a halt.
If none of the players can figure it out, the glorious adventure ceases to make
forward progress.

So, give the players a few minutes to figure it out for the cognitive satisfaction
if they can, but then transition to framing it in terms of what their characters
would know and how they would solve it. Any sort of knowledge of the Ancient Thassilonian
language or of the Thassilonian Empire would help here, as would any Aspect or ability
that specifically deals with puzzles or esoteric locks.

To simply try every combination is also an option, but the Siccatite burns those
touching the doors so the adventurer's might want to work with proxies like paper
first to make sure they minimize the impact of touching the doors.

Also, this is a good place to pull a cliffhanger ending if the timing is right.
While you could end the session on the puzzle and give the players until the next
session to figure it out, I would advise against it. A much more powerful and dramatic
cliffhanger is to let the adventurers get the doors open and then end the
session with the open doors enticing them to plunge deeper into the adventure's
depths, thus setting the hook deeper.

Web:Because I can spin sticky entrapping webs, when I Spin A Web I am able to project a disgusting stream of sticky goo from my abdomen at targets within my zone or in an adjacent zone. To do this I create advantage vs a Mediocre (+0) difficulty; the target may defend. If successful I attach a Trapped In A Web effect to the target.

Anyone can notice this door even on accident against a Fair (+2) difficulty

B33: Hall of King Zuuga

A giant black widow spider dwells here.

Zuuga's crown is actually half of a set of magical Bracers (the bracer detects of
moderate Abjuration); but it provides no benefit to him. The other bracer
to complete the set can be found later in the adventure.

Web:Because I can spin sticky entrapping webs, when I Spin A Web I am able to project a disgusting stream of sticky goo from my abdomen at targets within my zone or in an adjacent zone. To do this I create advantage vs a Mediocre (+0) difficulty; the target may defend. If successful I attach a Trapped In A Web effect to the target.

Overcome while Carefully Divine vs a Great (+4) difficulty to remove all debilitating situational Aspects currently affecting the target's health or normal functioning that have a difficulty to remove of Good (+3) or less. This does not work on environmental Aspects, scene Aspects, or other situational Aspects that affect the target externally, it only works against situational Aspects that affect them directly and personally such as poison, fatigue, curses, and so forth.

Treated as a mob, with every one stress representing one skeleton. +3 to attack while there are six skeletons, +2 to attack while there are at least four skeletons, and +1 to attack while there are at least two skeletons.

+1 attack for every three (3) skeletons remaining in the mob.

B45: Meeting Hall

Clickylegs, King Zuuga's missing pet, is in here. So is the other half of the Bracers
set.

If one of the adventurers has a Stunt slot free and wants to acquire a magic item
Stunt, the Bracers provide the following benefit.

Bracers of Defense:Because I wear magical bracers that protect me from damage, I may add +1 when I defend against abilities that directly harm me.

Cave Fishing:Because I can shoot a very sticky adhesive line and reel it in, when I use Adhesive Tongue I am able to project a long stream of sticky goo from my mouth at a single target within my zone or in an adjacent zone. To do this I create advantage vs a Mediocre (+0) difficulty; the target may defend. If successful I attach a On The Hook effect to the target. I can only have one of these effects active at the same time.